Following a two-game home stand to open the season, the Marquette men’s basketball team will head on the road for the first time this season when it travels to Mackey Arena to take on the Purdue Boilermakers as part of the 2022 Gavitt Tipoff games.
“Purdue for example, one of the best defensive teams in the country. We’re going to have to work together to create baskets against them, we can’t stand around and watch one guy go to work,” head coach Shaka Smart said.
Marquette opened the season by winning its first two games, most recently beating Central Michigan 97-73, in front of a student-only crowd in the Al McGuire center on Thursday.
Purdue comes into Tuesday night’s matchup also 2-0 with wins over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Austin Peay. They went from receiving 56 votes in the preseason AP Poll to having earned 104 votes, the second most for a team not in the top 25.
“I don’t think you counteract a team that has some really, really good attributes by trying to match those attributes,” Smart said.
In the all-time series against Purdue, Marquette is 1-9. Their most recent game was in 2019 when Marquette hosted the Boilermakers and won 65-55. There is no one on either roster who played in the last matchup.
A look at the Boilermakers
Purdue comes into the game ranked No. 22 in KenPom and 2-0. Its wins have come against teams outside the top 200 of KenPom with Marquette being its first top 100 ranked team.
Early in the season Purdue has excelled on the glass, out-rebounding its opponents 94-56. The Boilermakers 47 rebounds per game ranks 15th in the country as of Monday.
In the Big Ten preseason rankings on 247Sports Purdue was ranked fifth. Junior center Zach Edey was the lone player from Purdue to be named to the 2022-23 Preseason All-BIG TEN Team.
“Zach Edey is the biggest, tallest, strongest guy in the country,” Smart said.
Key Players
- Edey stands at 7-foot-4 and is currently leading the Boilermakers in points with 21 points per game and rebounds with 14 rebounds per game. He was also named a 2023 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award candidate, given to the top center in college basketball each year.
- First-year guard Fletcher Loyer has started his first two games as Boilermaker and is their leading 3-point shooter with five makes on the season. Loyer is averaging 11 points, two rebounds and three assists per game.
- Junior forward Oso Ighodaro is the tallest player in Marquette’s starting lineup at 6-foot-9. He’ll likely be matched up with Edey on the defensive end. Ighodaro leads Marquette in scoring with 14.5 points per game and is second in rebounds per game with six.
- Sophomore forward David Joplin is coming off of a career night where he scored a career high 23 points while shooting 6-for-10 from beyond the arc and 8-for-12 overall. Joplin is one of the first players to come off the bench for Marquette and at 6-foot-7 they’ll need his versatility.
How to Follow
- Watch: FS1
- Twitter Updates: @benschultz52 and @MUWireSports
My Prediction
- Purdue wins, 75-63
This story was written by Ben Schultz. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @benschultz52.
